[council] Personal submission to Public Comment on Board member compensation
Alan Greenberg
alan.greenberg at mcgill.ca
Thu Jun 5 04:22:45 UTC 2014
Perhaps of interest to some, I recently submitted a statement to the
Public Comment on Board Member Compensation. I believe that it is in
line with many statements made related to the need to encourage
volunteer efforts in the policy development process and more
specifically to not limit acknowledging the hard work that many do
solely by giving them a piece of paper in a blue folder when they leave.
In essence, I am saying that it may be fine to increase the number of
Board members receiving fees, and the size of that fee, but that we
must ALSO look at innovative ways to thank and reward other dedicated
volunteers who put in efforts commensurate with those on the Board.
I believe that the ALAC will be submitting a statement supporting the
positions that I have taken.
The Public Comment can be found at
https://www.icann.org/public-comments/bylaws-amend-compensation-2014-05-02-en
and it closes next Thursday, June 12th.
My comment is copied below. If anyone else feels so included, please
make a comment of your own.
Alan
=======================
I am a member of the ALAC and the ALAC Liaison to the GNSO, but I am
making this comment purely in my own capacity.
I believe that, subject to a number of related considerations, it is
reasonable to compensate Board members, including Liaisons, and the
level of compensation suggested is reasonable.
I do note that in the name of simplification, the report suggests an
increase for Board members who are not Board Committee Chairs by as
much as 29%.
However, the related considerations mentioned above, in my mind,
cannot be ignored.
- One of the reasons always sited for such compensation is that
having no compensation limits the available candidates who will make
themselves available for the ICANN Board. Given that there has never
been an AC/SO seat vacant due to lack of candidates, there is often
competition for such seats, and the Nominating Committee regularly
says that it has had to make very difficult decisions in selecting
Board members since there was a surplus of eminently qualified
candidates, in the name of transparency and accountability, it would
be good to see hard evidence of the rationale.
- The introduction of Board compensation widened the gulf between
Board members and other volunteers within ICANN. The proposed change
widens that gulf further. There is no question that many Board
members work very hard on behalf of ICANN, and that dedication eats
into their other professional activities and personal life. However,
the same can be said for many ICANN volunteers. There are many in the
community who work equally hard and dedicate the same kind of hours
as Board members. Indeed, it has been claimed that many in the
community put in far more time and effort than some Board members. I
believe that this claim is accurate.
SO and AC Chairs have been identified as meeting the above levels of
commitment, and indeed many or perhaps all do. However, there are
others who do not receive the existing benefits given to Board
members and AC/SO Chairs who also dedicate unending hours and effort to ICANN.
Board and now Liaison compensation without any new consideration of
the contributions of others denigrates the efforts of the rest of the
ICANN volunteers. Such acknowledgment need not be financial
compensation - there are a host of other benefits that Board members
get that other volunteers (and Chairs) would really appreciate.
Although I understand the difficulty of identifying those who put
Herculean efforts into ICANN from those who are lower level
contributors, we cannot continue to widen the gulf between the
privileged few and the rest of volunteers and expect there not to be
repercussions.
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